Vang Vieng -- What a place

The Blue water at the Blue Lagoon (kier jumped off the top of the big branch ;-)

Kier in Phu Kham Cave

Kier Climbing the slope to Phu Kham Cave

Sunset in hazy Vang Vieng

Our Bands Tour bus to Vang Vieng

The bus ride from Vientianne went windy, but well. It only took around 3 hours, so we got into town mid afternoon.

The guesthouse search was quite easy, we were happily surprised that it is much cheaper here than it was in Vientianne. (So expensive in comparison to the rest of S. East Asia)

We have taken it fairly mellow the last four days, absorbing the heat and taking in the beautiful mountains surrounding us. The first evening we got a little bit carried away with free buckets of rice whiskey and red bull across the river at the BucketBar. Needless to say my almost healed infection came back to bite me in the butt and we lost most of the next day wallowing in our own self inflicted misery ;-)

The following afternoon we finally made a go of exploring. We caught an overly expensive tuk tuk across the bridge and found a little slice of paradise at the Blue Lagoon and Phu Kham Cave. A steep 200 meter climb put as at the mouth of the cave, where we were astonished at the shear size and depth of the chambers inside. After a nice humid climb down we chilled by the Lagoon, talked to some locals and refreshed ourselves with a dip in the crystal blue water.

Yesterday we decided to go 'tubing', something Vang Vieng is quite renowned for.

WELL.. what an experience. We decided not to get tubes, for various reasons, and caught a tuk tuk to the first bar with another couple looking to get there.

To give some quick clarification to those who don't know... Vang Viengs river is fairly slow and there are numerous little shanti pubs and bar spots all along the river. The workers at each pub happily rope you in if you want to stop and drink. Every place has free shots and or something or another. Yesterday it was Ladies night and Lady boys night. So there were a number of men in drag, spray painting people with decals and obscenities (in car paint) on too their bodies. Pretty much the tubing experience includes the following: car paint, free shots, jiffy markers, hippy bandannas, lots of drunken people in swim suits (all mostly covered in paint) and numerous places to rope wing and or zip line into the river. (A bit sketchy might I add because there were quite a few surface rocks)

We ran into a couple we crossed the Vietnam border with and combined with the people we arrived with, spent most of the afternoon talking, dancing, (drinking a bit) and taking dips in the river. We only made it about 50 yards down the river, I can't see how some make it all the way down. Kier and his new friend Gareth went off the rope swing together... It was pretty cool and about a 40ft drop. ( I can see how easy it would be to injure ones self here, with alocohol and a touch of stupidity.)

We ended up leaving at the 5th bar after a young woman fell off the platform and split her forehead open.. There were plenty of people to administer help and first aid, so all went well.

The rest of the evening we hung out with our newly aquired friends and retired early this morning.

Today we booked a ticket out, to Luang Pra bang and bummed around for the day just taking it easy. We are definetly ready to be out of this town. Its a bit of a drunken sleeze of a tourist hole. Geez... and to think some people get stuck here.

CHEERS!!

Charissa and Kieran

Vientiane, Laos

My Visit to the Laos International Hospital

That Luang Temple

The view from the Patu Xay monument

Kier and I in The Patu Xay square

Leaving Vietnam was hard, but Ha Noi was pleasantly dreary the morning we fled for the airport, so it made the transition easy.

The flight went smooth and customs gave us no hassle upon arrival into Vientiane. Visa's were issued and stamped in less than a half an hour, so overall this was the easiest entry we have had to date.... minus the additional money that we had to spend ;-) We car pooled with two other travels from the airport into the town center to make it cheaper and after a few hotel jumps we found a reasonable room just off of the main district.

The first day was a bit of a blur because I (charissa) haven't been doing as well.. and well sleep deprivation along with sleeping pills, antibiotics and painkillers can fog your mind a bit. Lucky me though, the second day here we decided that I should go to the hospital.

Against every rational bone in my body (concerning 3rd world countries and Medicare) it went smooth. The doctor spoke English and after an examination, hooked me up with all the goodies I needed to get better. The rest of the day and some of the next we just rested and took it easy so that I could recuperate and kier could catch up on more sleep as well.

So the last two days have been on an upward slope. Kier and I, despite the sweltering mid day heat decided to rent a motto yesterday to see more of the city. We climbed the Patu Xay park monument, saw the That Luang temple ( a huge gold like structure) and checked out the morning market.

The morning market was full of all sort of things: electronics, jewelery, food and a diverse selection of hand made goodies and all sorts of things we like ;-) But despite my frivolous wishes we will probably only buy a bedding set (hand made and quilted) and a few trinkets for the babies... depending on how much slush fund we have left ;-)

So far the Laos cuisine has been fantastic and people are amazingly friendly. To beat the heat we finally switched rooms last night for an air con room, after 3 days on the top floor with only a fan, we thought we'd splurge ;-). We have been living off of fruit shakes and loving it ;-)

Hope everyones doing well, we know that both our families have had a few obstacles and hard times lately and we just want you to know that we love you all and you are in our daily thoughts.

Take care and Cheers ;-)

Charissa and Kieran

P.S. Dad I love you and I am glad that you are ok, it was so scary to hear about the accident, HUGS*

Ha Long and back again.

Ha Long Bay

Charissa, Paula and Steve on the transport boat.

Charissa and I on the boat.

Ha Long Bay at night.

So here we are back in Ha Noi waiting till we head to Laos and the next stage of the journey. We have had a blast in the north of Vietnam, the capital city is something else. So much depth of history and culture packed in to the narrow, bustling streets of the old quarter. The stimulation to all the senses has been almost overwhelming at times, but we have thoroughly enjoyed it.

We returned from a boat tour to Ha Long Bay yesterday, what an experience. It was so surreal, thousands of islands jutting up out of the sea like ice bergs floating along. The tour took us through the islands to the bay where we anchored for the night, from there we were taken to a massive cave in one of the islands (like nothing either of us had ever seen before, absolutely mind blowing is size). When we returned from the cave we were put on the kayaks and led off to a lagoon with in one of the islands ( led isn't exactly accurate as our guide did not wait for us and did not seem to care whether we were safe or not), again it was absolutely breath taking. We were even lucky enough to be visited by a family of local monkeys that lived on the cliff of the lagoon, so cool;-p.

The rest of the evening was spent eating and relaxing, which was not hard to do as the food was great and the company was amazing. We even managed to get a little squid jigging in, no trophy squid though:-(. The following day we cruised back through the islands, stopping of few times to take in the sheer beauty of it all. We were then whisked into a mini bus to return to Ha Noi. It was a amazing trip, such a cool way to finish of Vietnam.

The next two days will be spent just taking in the food, culture and some shopping, as our visas run out tomorrow:-(. Tomorrow we catch a flight to Vientiane in the south of Laos, from there we will plot our route through Laos. We found a cheap plain flight and figured that rather than going through another 18 hour bus ride we would rather spend the extra money and get there with no hassles. And so we say "good by" to Vietnam.

Hope you are all doing well, all our love.

kieran and charissa

Savouring our last moments of nam!!

Charissa at the tailors (loving the new dress), Hanoi

Women at the river selling boat trips, Hanoi

Inside the citadel, Hue

Charissa and Paula on the river boat, Hue

Charissa and I inside the citadel, Hue

So here we are coming in to the last week in Vietnam and sad to say so. We have had a great time here and are going to miss it dearly.

Our stay in Ho ain was great, although we did end up laying ourselves out for a day as a result of our previous nights activities;-P. We just laid low for the most part, taking in the architecture of the old city and looking at all the amazing clothes on display in the local tailors shops.

After much debating and some minor research in to tailor shops, we decide to get some clothes made. Charissa and I went on a mission around town taking photos of clothes we liked with the telephoto; it was a fun game of stealthily taking photos with out being noticed by the shop owners. We took in our photos to our shop of choice, negotiated some prices and chose our fabric. We were measured and told to return at 7:30pm that night.

To our amazement the bulk of the clothes had been completed with in the three hours we had been gone. Charissa's dresses were the only things that need some tweaking. We left the shop only to have to return the next morning. We dragged ourselves back twice that next morning, after our adventurous night, for re fitting. All in all we were very pleased with the quality on the dresses, suit and jackets that we got.

To our disappointment we found ourselves on the same roach bus, that we had traveled to Ho Ain on, traveling to Hue. We arrived in Hue around noon and shortly there after found a place, this time the lonely planet was spot on. We settled in and set off to explore the town. Our night consisted of finding the post office to send our clothes, feeding ourselves at an overly expensive street vendors. some beers and pool till later on in the evening.

The following day we took it easy in the morning, grabbing some delicious grub at a vegetarian place that simulated meat in all its dishes ( surprisingly very good). On our way back to the guest house we ran into Steve and Paula ( the older Aussie couple that we have continued to meet along the way up the coast). Charissa and I spent the rest of the day with them, grabbing food and going on a river boat cruise ( so much fun). We split from them for awhile and met up for dinner later.

Today we packed up, went for breakfast and then set off to see the citadel ( the Ngyuen palace and grounds). Now we wait for our sleeper bus to Ha Noi (hopefully no roaches this time), we had to go with the bus as it was way to expensive for us to fly.

Once in Ha Noi we will set out to Hoa Long Bay for a few days, most likely re connecting with Steve and Paula before we all depart from Vietnam.

Hope you are all doing well, we would love to hear from you guys as it has been awhile. Take care all of you.

All our love
Kieran and Charissa

P.S. We will post some photos when we find a computer that will work for us.
P.P.S Still waiting on some photos of the baby Amanda!!!!!!

Nha Trang City -- Too Hoi An

NO I didn't steal her! (she was given to me!) Hoh Chi Minh Style

The ladies in Hoi An, threading my legs and giving me a pedicure in the market... who would of thought 10$ would go so far...(Threading is the process of removing hair by hair, with thread in a zipper like fashion ;-)

The Laying Buddha in Nah Trang

Me on the coach roach bed (infested night bus) to Hoi An, Kier ended up sleeping here ;-p

Kier (playing the VC) in the Cu chi Tunnels

Hello Everyone!!

So we were in Nha Trang the last two and a half days.... ( Although, we were both terribly sad to leave Ho Chi Minh City)

The bus ride here was easy going, we enjoyed watching the terrain change as we followed the coast line. Neither of us realized we would go through desolate arid desert! The rock formations on the mountains were something else to behold!

We got in around 7:30 pm and easily located one of the "Lonely Planet" picks, Phu Quay Hotel. It was pretty cool, we settled on a sweet pad with a balcony overlooking the beach front and partially down Houng Vang st. (it beat the room with out a window, which might I add smelt vaguely of urine.)

The strip and overall life out here left us somewhat disappointed, granted we just came from the 'most awesome' bustling beautiful city of HCMC so it is to be understood. The food wasn't as great and the overall sites and things to do were limited.

The first night, after our arrival at 7:30pm, we had an "interesting dinner" (not so great food and we left with three paintings?) Which was then followed up by a trip to the mini mart where we purchased some necessities and as the locals do..(only cause we had a bar fridge) a case of 24 beer (333 brand to be exact, and no we didn't drink it all ;-) Long story short, we ended up drinking on the roof top patio with an Irish man, a Scottish (just back from tours in Iraqi) and well.. a trashy floozy. Needless to say we stayed up with the hilarious Irish guy til 4:30 am. (Don't worry mother, I paid for it the next day. )

So the actual first day in Nha Trang was a bit of a right off, we sorted out some ticket issues and that was about it besides lounging around. The second day (and our last) we set off into town by foot and checked out the the sitting Buddha, Laying Buddha and the market. Luckily we were able to hit up the spa/hot springs near by and went for a mineral soak and a mud bath. It was hilarious! We were sat in a mud tub with some older Asian woman and she was smiling and discussing something with us but we didn't understand a word. It made the our afternoon ;-)

Our bus showed up around 7 (after we were told 6 last night) An she was a gem!! 'Luckily' we were able to enjoy the experience with some like minded Kiwis or we wouldn't have enjoyed the cockroach'y experience as much on our own.

We arrived at 7am this morning in Hoi An after a mostly restless, but not entirely horrible evening on our night bus. We walked up the block from the place we were left at to find better and 'cheaper' ;-) accomidation. After three we lucked out with a clean decent hotel and tried to nap but inevitably have continued on with our day :-) ... So far we checked out the market and I got roped in to leg threading and a pedicure 'again' (jeez its a hard life ;-) Beauty is though, this is the land of custom made clothing and shoes for so cheap.... Kier and I our planning to get some made...

So in a nut shell that sums it up. cheers to you all including our work buddies... I know its hard but we DO enjoy your posts ;-)

Charissa and Kier xoxox

Hello Ho Chi Minh!!!!

The love birds at Independence palace HCMC
Moto nation HCMC
Charissa posing way to hard in HCMC
fisher men on phu quoc

Just to set the record straight (Laurie) the roads we were driving on resembled deactivated logging roads, so bugger to you and Ithaca. I'd like to see you pull out some moto x moves! ;-)

So here we are in the big Saigon. After a full day of "boats, motos and buses" we landed in the city last night. We had one heck of an adventure getting here, at times feeling as though we might not make it at all. We road the local bus, big language barrier???

Leaving the gorgeous coast behind wasn't easy, but we were both ready to get on with the Vietnamese stage of our journey.

Today we had a much deserved sleep in, as the previous day had left us both a little rough around the edges. We set off for some pho (Vietnamese soup) for breakfast, before exploring the town.

We puttered around town taking in the local smells and sounds, exploring the market and palace. To beat the heat we stopped in at the "who's who" spot for young upscale Vietnamese, needless to say it cost us a bit more. ;-p

We had a great chat with an older american chap (pretty solid guy) over a beer at a road side stall before getting totally turned around on the way back to the guest house. The start of the evening has been spent being entertained by the children at the guest house, eating their spring rolls and having some beer.

We will let the rest of our stay in HCMC play out by ear. So far we are happy to be here, as we were getting sick of overly touristy areas. ;-(

Hope you are all well, all our love.

Kieran and Charissa xoxo

p.s. where are our pictures of the babies? (kyla and amanda) and we really don't mind hearing back from all of you ;-)

Sunset on Long Beach, Phu Quoc

Moto Bandito's (apparently they rent to anybody ;-)

Border at Ha Tien ("Mike" loose the truck, get a moto!)

Bridge over troubled waters ;-) (downtown Phu Qouc)


Good morning Vietnam!

We have arrived! A short commute from Kampot to Ha Tien, Vietnam. We took a quick speed boat to Phu Quoc island....and have landed in a little slice of Paradise.... ;-)

Our en devours have left us entirely smitten. After a bit of riga-ma-roll we found a sweet little bungalow close to Long beach and have been living it up.

On our second day here we rented a moto to journey to the north end of the island. Needless to say we are NOT pro's ;-) We only bailed once! and we weren't hit by the large dump truck... ha. We made it there and back in one piece and were rewarded with an amazing stretch of sand.

The beaches here are beautiful. Clear aqua water and barely anyone to share it with. The sea food (fehr fam is squirming) is awesome!

Today we walked into town and checked out the market, picking up some essentials and changing American into Dong (vietnamese currency..cough*cough*Jenn). Spent the rest of the evening chatting with another foreigner and chilling on the beach for sunset...(the picture)

Tomorrow, we head for Ha Tien and then hopefully Ho Chi Minh City .

We'll continue to suck up the rays for all of you while we are here!!! (;-p)

xoxo Charissa and Kier

Post in a few, Cheers*